Transforming device inventions into disruptive enterprise or consumer solutions that power the next generation of scalable hardware enterprises with potential for growth, impact, and profits.

Take #1 — Edison didn’t sell Electric Bulbs but Electric Power!

Lots of bulbs were busted in making this ad for the MacBook by Apple!

Electric Bulb as the metaphor for idea or innovation is perhaps the greatest myth there is, and its about time we busted this myth!

What’s all the hype about the Electric bulb anyway? Why?

When the truth is this: Edison didn’t start an electric bulb company after very famously inventing it. He actually started the Electric Power company, which became GE and was Fortune #1 for 40 years.

What’s in a device anyway? Why all the fuss about it?

Electric Light was the ultimate consumer product — useful, usable and affordable. Electric Power — actually the Utility Company, was and in many ways is even today an example of the kind of business model that makes a strong case for venture financing — a profitably scalable business model to build a scalable enterprise with high potential for growth, impact, and profits.

The Electric Bulb then? Well it was certainly the tool that made it all possible. In households, streets, factories, hospitals, and hotels, all humans did was to flick a switch and the Electric Bulb gave light and dispelled darkness — a severe human problem worth solving. With the gas electric bulb — that was invented 60 years earlier, was unreliable, dangerous/hazardous, and gave a random mix of bright and dim light. So Edison solved a real pain with the (re)invention of the Electric Bulb — the Edison filament electric bulb.

But what made solving this problem — the problem of removing darkness for the millions and millions of people, and solving it at scale possible?

Primarily tech — the technology of centralized power generation, long-distance power transmission, and localized power distribution. But more significantly the business model — the profitably scalable business model of the utility company enterprise.

Now talk about selling MacBook as the tool for ideas!!!

Apple more than anyone should know it best. Imagine iMacs, iPod, iPhone, iPad, Macbooks without iTunes, Apps, Content and the out-of-the-world UX delivered!

Imagine SONY selling the iconic Walkman bundled with music cassettes!!! Certainly Apple righted that wrong by selling iPod along with iTunes.

Bottomline: Electric Bulb was merely a (re) invention! Let’s stop talking about that! We don’t need inventors but innovators! Ones that can make Electric Power available, accessible, and affordable to give Electric Light to the billions and do so profitably!

Take #2 — Sell Outcomes not Devices!

“All companies are services companies; some also manufacture products”, Peter Drucker.

From edison’s electric bulb, to xerox’s xerox, to gillette’s razor, to sony’s walkman, to apple’s ipod, and to the latest device that raised $1Mi on kickstarter, billion dollar companies never came out of merely selling the device — either they bundled compelling services, consumables, content, experience on their own or their partners/channel/distributors did.

Ultimately driving up adoption of devices is a battle fought in the mind of the target user/customer aimed at overcoming these barriers:

Why will I use this device? What are the benefits I get?
Does it help me solve problems more conveniently and at lower cost?
How will I use this device? Is it simple and convenient?
What else will I need to use this device easily and conveniently?
How reliable is this device? How likely is this to fail?

Simply put, adoption is stimulated by Outcomes — measurable, meaningful, and significant gains that outweigh costs (purchase and operating), effort & time, and risks.

Devices are tools that we put in the hands of customers who then create and achieve outcomes. But beware OUTCOMES are too important to be left to customers! And don’t blame them if your devices don’t sell!

So innovators of hardware devices, it is but imperative that you bundle your devices with content, easy & simple UX, value-added-services, APIs, community offered support, and thereby help your customers achieve outcomes in a simple, easy, and convenient manner.

Bottomline: With the assurance of achieving Outcomes the business can now move away from a ‘Device Purchase’ oriented business model selling Hardware to a ‘Device Usage’ driven business model selling Hardware-as-a-Service in a highly scalable pay-per-use model also creating revenues from content, VAS, and data.

Take #3 — Build PLATFORMS not Devices!

Is GOQii a device or a platform?

Well if you look at the way people are buying it, wearing it, and importantly using it, then this is a stupid question right? GOQii is a wearable device!

But is it?

When actually GOQii consumers — health, wellness, and fitness conscious, are seeing compelling value in using the device to get connected with fitness trainers, wellness practitioners, and doctors, and thereby achieve their health and fitness goals and outcomes.

No, it’s not a stupid question, not at all!

The most iconic devices brands that created billion dollar businesses and disrupted industries were all platforms more than merely products!

Disruptive hardware innovations should serve as platforms that connect multiple beneficiaries and providers in a networked business ecosystem that creates, delivers and captures value in a scale unmatched by the existing value-chain and thereby creating new markets with big business potential.

Possibly why Inc42 calls GOQii and the other 4 hardware devices as the game changers of Indian health-tech sector is also because they each have a huge platform play.

Bottomline: Platforms built using smart hardware devices that exploit social networks, mobility, cloud computing, and data analytics to power the next generation of scalable enterprises!

Watch our recorded webinar: ‘Value beyond devices, enhancing market and business potential for hardware startups in building scalable hardware enterprises’.